


nobody gets me like you

by thisissirius



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: BAMF!Donna, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-08
Updated: 2011-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-23 13:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/250640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissirius/pseuds/thisissirius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which donna is badass and wants a raise because, seriously, harvey needs to sort his own shit out. (or the one where mike was peddled out for nothing and harvey gets a kick in the right direction to fixing it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	nobody gets me like you

**Author's Note:**

> i am writing about harvey specter and mike ross as presented in the usa's tv drama _suits_. i do not own suits. this is for love and not profit.
> 
> * * *
> 
> haha. oh man, SPOILERS FOR _1x11; rules of the game_. because harvey needs to STEP UP AND FIX THAT SHIT. leaving mike all down trodden and USED. lol idek. i hope this works. i am SCARED OF WRITING THEM, YOU GUYS.

There was something off the moment Donna stepped out of the elevator and onto the floor.

She didn’t know immediately what it was but narrowed her eyes as she made her way down the corridor. It was Harvey related, she suspected, because he had a way of making the even the office feel stifling when there was something wrong. The whole business with Cameron was enough to make her conclusion almost perfect until she rounded the corner and saw Mike in his cubicle. It was early, almost too early for him to be here at all.

“Rookie!” She said, slamming a hand down on the side of his cubicle.

“Donna!” Mike said, startled. He jerked up in his seat and fumbled with the papers on the desk. She recognised the folder immediately when Mike held it out to her but the admonishment died on her tongue when she saw the look on his face. “I found some stuff that I think Harvey can use to turn this over.”

“How did you know what he was going to do?” Donna asked, before she could stop herself.

Mike snorted, putting the cap back on his highlighter. He was playing with it, distracting himself from having to look her in the eye. “Harvey put an innocent man in jail. He pretends not to care but we both know that’s not true.”

There was something in his tone and the look on his face was one of almost wistfulness. Donna started. She was going to _hit_ Harvey for this. “So you’re helping him.”

“What else am I going to do?” Mike said, wryly. “It’s not like I have anyone else to work for. Well, there are the other partners that seem to want my services lately but hey, it’s not like there’s anyone else that wants me for the next ten days.”

Donna managed not to wince. Harvey was _definitely_ paying for this. “I’ll give these to him for you.”

“You’re going to tell him?” Mike asked, voice low. There was something in his eyes that made her pause. He looked almost... hopeful?

“Mike,” she said, slowly. He tilted his chin, defiant, and she smiled. Kid still had spunk. She liked that. It made her lean over the cubicle and touch him under the chin. “Of course I’ll tell him you did it.”

Mike shrugged like it was no big deal, but she could read the relief as he bent back over his desk, shoulders relaxed and face calm. With a frown she made her way towards her own desk, determined to have _words_ with Harvey once he arrived. Sometimes she wondered if she could push Jessica for a raise and add _babysitting_ to her duties. Honestly, looking out for Mike and Harvey was a full time job all its own.

 

 

“Donna,” Harvey said as he rounded the corner, coming to stand by her desk. “I want-”

She thrust the folder up into his face, effectively cutting him off. She could make out the glare in the corner of her eye but she enjoyed the shift into confusion when he looked over the documents.

“Did you-”

Donna rolled her eyes. “Please. I didn’t even know what was going on until this morning.”

Harvey looked over the documents. His hands were knuckle-white and there was the little flush of anger on his cheeks. She sighed. “How did you get these? _Who_ did this? Nobody else-”

“Harvey,” Donna said, her tone hard. She stood, pointing at his office door. He raised an eyebrow but decided to humour her, leading the way through the door. He took a seat at his desk and she waited, hand on her hip. She hoped he wasn’t going to be difficult about this; sometimes when he didn’t want to know something that he really should, Harvey could be annoyingly obtuse. “Mike gave this to me this morning.”

Harvey paused. “How did he even know what I wanted to do?”

Donna gave him an incredulous look. “Did you really think he _wouldn’t_? You’ve taught him well. Picking up your slack when you need him to.”

“I _don’t_ need him to,” Harvey said, his voice heavy with heat.

“Yes, you do.” Donna looked at the file pointedly. “You need all the help you can get if you’re going to overturn this decision and Mike knew that. He does the grunt work, you clean up the mess.”

There was silence as Harvey digested this but he still had the stubborn air about him that Donna hated. It meant that he was going to be extra difficult this morning. On any other day she would have allowed it but this was different. “I don’t need his help.”

“It’s one thing to the kick the puppy, Harvey, another to do it when he’s already reeling from being farmed out to _Louis_ of all people.”

“It’s not my job to make the kid feel good.” It was as much a dismissal as Harvey ever gave her.

“No,” Donna snapped. “It’s your job to be his _mentor_.”

Harvey’s head raised and the glare on his face was enough to cow lesser mortals. Donna had been working for him for too long to be swayed by the look and she held up a hand.

“You’ve spent this whole time telling Jessica that Cameron was your _mentor_ and that you could no more see him go down than you could her. Think about what that means to Mike, Harvey. Until yesterday, he would have walked to hell and back if you’d asked him to. You know better than anyone that if his secret came to light, he’d suffer the consequences alone if it meant he could save you.”

There was a subtle shift on Harvey’s face that would have been difficult for anybody else to catch. He looked uncomfortable. Good.

“You peddled him out for _nothing_. You may as well have told him that's what he’s worth.”

“That’s not what it was,” Harvey protested, laying his hands on the table. Donna didn’t want to hear his excuses. She could understand his feelings and she was right there with him but taking his anger out on Mike was unacceptable. Bar Donna, Mike was the most loyal person Harvey could hope to have in his life but he was going to _lose_ it unless he fixed this.

Donna shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? Mike knows what he’s worth in your eyes.”

“What do you want from me?” Harvey said, some of the heat returning. She wasn’t startled by the question; there was no doubt that Harvey was still reeling from the whole Cameron affair but that didn’t give him the right to shit on everything Mike had done for him over the past few months.

She shrugged. “ _Fix it_. If you lose Mike, Harvey, I swear to God you will lose the one person in your life that will actually put up with your shit no matter what you do.”

The silence after her words was more than telling. She turned on her heel, walking for the door. Harvey muttered, “I’m not going to lose him,” just as she reached it.

Turning back with an incredulous look, Donna just snorted. “Yes, you will.”

Even Mike had a breaking point. Harvey just needed to realise that taking it for granted that Mike would always be around was a fool’s game.

 

 

 

Donna passed Mike’s cubicle around lunchtime. She was en-route to the photocopier and if it was actually in the other direction, well, she was just going the long way round to work off the salad she had for dinner. She would swear that under oath and not even Harvey would get her to admit to anything else. She saw the other associates gathered around the cubicle before she saw Mike and it made her brow furrow. They really needed to stop the juvenile hazing already. It was true that Mike had stepped in and taken one of the most sought after positions at Pearson Hardman (because _of course_ everybody wanted to work for Harvey) but he’d been here for months and it was obvious that-

Well, Donna though wryly. Maybe it wasn’t so obvious anymore. She almost wished she could have shoved _this_ in Harvey’s face, too. Maybe if he saw what happened the instant he did something to throw Mike back about twenty years into approval desperation, he wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the kid.

When one of the associates, the smartass dick from the mock trial, snorted in with a, “...peddled you out to everyone else. You don’t even cut it for _Louis_ , Ross,” Donna raised an eyebrow.

“Alright kiddies,” she snapped, stalking right up amongst them. “I think it’s obvious that none of you will be doing anything for Louis unless you actually get some work done.”

A few of the associates drifted away but some, like the smartass, didn’t seem to think her words applied to them. “Mommy has to come and protect you again, Mikey?”

Mike bristled at the nickname but Donna was already rounding on the idiot who was obviously suffering from a mommy complex of his own.

“Again with calling me mommy. I’d ask if it was a kink of yours but I don’t really want to know. That said, I’m pretty sure the _daddy_ in this scenario would happily step in on Mike’s behalf if you don’t actually _get on with some work_.”

She knew she was treading a thin line ordering the associates around but the moron actually paled once he’d finally finished figuring out just who she was implying the _daddy_ was.

“Daddy?” Mike asked with a raised eyebrow. He was smirking, though, so Donna figured her solution worked for him. Admittedly, painting Harvey as a daddy figure for Mike just wasn’t going to work into her grand plan for them but she could work around that.

Speaking of. “Harvey wants to see you at three.”

Mike visibly paled. “Are you sure?”

Donna just stared at him.

“Right,” Mike said, shifting his papers and standing. “Oh, three. Right.”

He sat back down awkwardly and Donna patted his head trying less for patronising and more for comforting. She hoped it worked. “Have faith, puppy. Harvey’s not a lost cause just yet.”

Mike looked at her, confused, but she just waggled her eyebrows conspiratorially and walked away.

 

 

Three o’clock came around soon enough.

Donna looked up in time to see Mike come around the corner, looking even paler than he had in his cubicle. She hadn’t thought that was possible. In contrast, Harvey had been growing more and more irritable as the afternoon progressed and she figured it had everything to down with the meeting he had asked her to schedule. Well, that was his problem to deal with. He was always telling Mike to clean up his own messes, he could do no less.

She gave Mike a reassuring smile and gestured over her shoulder. He shook his head and looked determined as he gripped the door and she couldn’t push down the rush of pride. Even now, Mike was going to make Harvey work for this and she wouldn't have expected anything else from him. Mike Ross was no pushover, even when he was being trampled underfoot by the one person he wanted most to appreciate him.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Donna had her hand on the intercom, listening in. This was one meeting that Harvey - and Mike - would probably want to keep secret but she wanted to be able to step in should things get out of hand. And they could, with Harvey being stubborn and Mike as hurt as he was. Sometimes she wished they would just find the middle ground that they walked sometimes, where they were both inseparable and unstoppable. Those moments had been few and far between as of late.

“Mike,” Harvey said, when Mike was standing in front of his desk. “I’m sorry.”

The words didn’t come easy for him, Donna knew.

“Do you think I’m going to make this easy for you?” Mike asked, his voice high. Donna was tempted to stride into the office and knock their heads together but there was something in Mike’s tone that told her all was not lost. “An apology isn’t going to cut it, Harvey.”

“I didn’t ask for this,” Harvey said.

Mike snorted. “Actually you did. When you said, _I’m inclined to give you a shot_ and gave me this job. You threw me into a world I have to learn day by day and when I screw up, you’re looking at it from your point of view. What about mine? The one where I don’t have a _clue_ how anything works. I’m not a lawyer, Harvey. I’m pretending to be one.”

There was a ringing silence after his admission and Donna’s hand slipped away from the intercom. She couldn’t bring herself to cut off though. Mike’s words rang with the truth and she turned to see the look on Harvey’s face. Sure enough, he was staring right at Mike, mouth pulled thin and taut.

“You can’t _do this_ ,” Mike said, finally.

Harvey raised his head. “Do what?”

“Praise me one minute and peddle me out for _nothing_ the next. I do everything you ask of me and more and what am I expected to get in return?”

Harvey swung around in his chair, facing the window. “I’m teaching you.”

Mike looked like he wanted to punch Harvey in the jaw. Donna wouldn’t be surprised if he actually followed through; it wasn’t as though Harvey deserved any less. “You are? Could have fooled me.”

“Look,” Harvey snapped, getting out of his chair and standing in front of Mike. “I make decisions based on the moment. This wasn’t about you, this was about _Louis_.”

 _Oh_ , Donna thought, noting the look on Mike’s face. Sometimes even she despaired of Harvey’s ability to stamp on what little self-worth Mike had left.

“No,” Mike snapped. “This had nothing to do with Louis. I’m a _person_. You can’t just bet me for whatever the hell it is you need this week. I’m worth more than that!”

Harvey just raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Mike was getting better at standing up to Harvey and Donna knew that against his better judgement, Harvey appreciated it. There were too few associates (if any besides Mike) who would willingly stand up to a partner, junior or otherwise, if they thought they were wrong. Finding someone like Mike was refreshing.

Harvey looked thoughtful. “What do you _want_ , Mike?”

“You’re the last person I want to disappoint,” Mike said, with complete honesty. “And yet you’re the only person I can’t seem to _stop_ disappointing.”

Donna could see the shock in Harvey’s bearing, even if Mike couldn’t yet read it. Stepping forward, Harvey lifted a hand to Mike’s shoulder and then curved it around the back of his neck. “You’ve never disappointed me, Mike.”

There was a wry smile that Donna didn’t like on Mike’s face. “Why else would you give me away for nothing?”

“Mike,” Harvey said, tone brooking no argument. “ _You’ve_ never disappointed me. I have. I think I should have told you this a long time ago.”

“Yeah,” Mike breathed. “You should have.”

He leaned into the touch, eyes sliding closed. Donna could see him relax, posture going lax against Harvey’s hands. She almost wanted to turn away and give them privacy but she couldn’t; she had to _know_.

“I could have picked another associate already,” Harvey said, and Donna almost winced. She hoped Harvey knew what he was doing this time. “If I really wanted someone else. If I thought so little of my own choices.”

Mark snorted. “Of course, this is about _you_.”

When Mike tried to pull away, Harvey held on tighter, pushing Mike’s head down to rest against his shoulder. To Donna’s surprise, Mike stopped fighting and went, hands resting awkwardly on Harvey’s hips.

“I’ve been a shit mentor,” Harvey admitted, pulling the words from somewhere Donna didn’t even want to think about. “But I’m not going to-”

“Fail me?” Mike asked, voice muffled by Harvey’s jacket.

“I don’t do failure,” Harvey said, too quickly. “I’ll get you back off of whatever shit Louis has you doing for other partners, and then you and I are going to get this innocent kid out of jail.”

Mike pulled away from Harvey, stepping back and rubbing at the side of his face. Harvey looked torn between amusement and _fondness_ and Donna snorted. She didn’t know who they thought they were fooling. “Right.”

Harvey nodded and Mike turned for the door. Donna didn’t even bother to turn her chair around; it was painfully obvious to everyone involved that she listened.

“Mike?” Mike looked back over his shoulder as Harvey slid into his chair. There was another ringing silence and then Harvey gestured at the door. “You did a good job. Against Louis and with this,” he said, waving the document. “I’m-“

“Don’t,” Mike said. He shrugged but Donna could tell from the look on his face that the fact that Harvey had been about to say the word _proud_ was enough. “You don’t have to.”

“I will,” Harvey promised.

Donna had no doubt that he would follow through. She decided to cut the kid a break and didn’t stop him as he left Harvey’s office at a brisk walk to grab his files. She couldn’t quite hide the smug smile from Harvey as she turned back in her chair but he deserved that too. She didn’t miss the grateful look he shot her in return. Damn right. She definitely needed a raise.


End file.
